Forward:
Passport to the Heart

By
Hon. David Kilgour, Secretary of State (Latin
America and Africa)

15 September 2000

The Caribbean
has been a magical place for me since my
late grandmother, Nan Russell, first wintered
there from Prairie Canada when I was a small
boy in the 1950s. Her stories of the people
she met began a life long fascination. In
recent years, I have been exposed to a whole
other side of this vibrant region that goes
well beyond beaches and sunshine. This book
reflects that reality; readers gain a deeper
sense of the political tradition, stability
and longstanding friendship between the
people of the Caribbean and Canadians.

Author Trevor
Carmichael is one of the most respected
residents of the central Caribbean region.
His reputation for honesty, competence,
objectivity, independence and friendly cooperation
appears to go well beyond his native Barbados.
It is a great honour to be asked to write
a forward to Passport to the Heart.

The first
subject examined in the book is Caribbean-Canada
political union, which has not succeeded
to date but could still be a concept whose
time is coming. As Carmichael points out
in fascinating detail, the first movement
towards political and economic union between
Canada and its Caribbean neighbours began
shortly after Confederation in 1867. It
went up and down through the decades culminating
in the mid-1970s, when a group of Canadian
MPs visited the Turks and Caicos islands
with a view to inviting them to become a
province or territory. Unfortunately, in
the view of many Caribbean-loving Canadians
today, the proposal was ultimately rejected.
This and a host of other initiatives have,
however, deepened the economic and human
bonds that flourish between the Caribbean
and Canada today.

Carmichael
sketches the growth of air and sea links
between the two regions, beginning in the
mid-1800s with the colourful blue
nose vessels carrying fish, potatoes
and lumber south and rum, molasses and sugar
northward. The gradual merging of trade,
aid and commerce between two former colonial
entities is an enticing subject. As a Canadian,
I find it reassuring to note that successive
Canadian governments sought actively to
maintain a special relationship with the
Caribbean peoples. The development of the
banana industry is a case in point. In view
of the Caribbeans current enormous
banana problem with the World Trade Organization,
its interesting to note that the Canada/West
Indies Trade Agreement of 1925 allowed bananas
from Jamaica to enter Canada duty free.
By 1941, for various reasons Canada became
the largest exporter to the West Indies;
by 1958 Ottawa was even looking at a free
trade relationship. Today the 1986 CARIBCAN
protocol allows duty-free access for almost
all imports from the Commonwealth Caribbean.

The impact
of Canadian aid is discussed quite candidly,
beginning with the landing of Canadian troops
in St. Lucia in 1916 to defend against a
possible attack by the German navy. The
Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA) after 1970 focussed on the Leeward
and Windward islands to support infrastructure
services, economic and environmental management,
human and natural resource development and
the role of women in economic advancement.
Carmichael stresses the role of Non-government
organizations like the Canadian Executive
Services Organization (CESO), particularly
in Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago,
and Dominica as well as the significant
inputs by a number of Canadian companies
and business leaders.

I found the
highlight of the book to be the emigration/immigration
of people between the two regions. For example,
the Maroons of Jamaica, after revolting
against British Rule, were resettled near
Halifax, but 500 of them later relocated
to what is now Sierra Leone. Joe Fortis
moved from the Caribbean to Vancouver in
1885 and became such a community hero in
protecting people of all ages on the beach
at English Bay that when he died his funeral
cortege was two miles long. Guyana-born
Sir James Douglas was the first Governor
of the new colony of British Colombia in
1858. Canadians moving to the Caribbean,
particularly in the last century, were also
interesting, and productive people, including
many missionaries.

Carmichaels
enlightening analysis of the cultural interchanges
between the two countries includes much
more than the contribution of the almost
immortal Bob Marley. Writers like Austin
Clarke, Dionne Brand, Neil Bisoondath get
a fair share of attention, as does the burgeoning
annual Caribana Festival in Toronto. The
author concludes here on an interesting
note of culture and cuisine fusion in an
era of economic globalization.

In the new
century, it will be incumbent on all democracies
to find ways of sustaining one another,
sharing wealth and respecting the uniqueness
each brings to the challenges ahead. This
book illustrates over and over again how
leaders in both regions have risen to meet
the circumstances of the day. From my experiences
travelling throughout the region, Im
convinced that good governance is alive
and well; the next generation will only
improve on the record of achievement to
date. The special Canada/Caribbean relationship
has ripened into an object of real beauty,
which must continue to bloom and prosper.
Passport to the Heart is a labour of love
and a practical analysis that serves our
noblest ambitions, be they Canadian or Caribbean.